Typewritter

Marks/Label: Bottom front: "L. C. Smith & Bros."; "No. 2"; "Syracuse N.Y. U.S.A."
Support: 3 white horses with red halters jumping from behind a gold horseshoe with a blue ribbon. At the top of the horseshoe is "L.C. Smith & Bros." In the centre of the horseshoe is a picture of a typwriter on a white background with white text "Typewriter" and "Writing in sight" at the bottom.
Bottom rear: "This machine is protected by U.S. and Foreign Patents'

Narrative: This typewriter is a L. C. Smith & Bros. typewriter No. 2, built around 1905. Prior to 1889, the Smith Brothers were concerned with the manufacture of firearms. However, the production of a double keyboard standard typewriter was so quickly successful that they set up a new company called Smith Premier Typewriter company. In 1893, this company came under the umbrella of the Union Typewriter Company, which was a trust comprised of the Smith Brothers, Remington, Densmore, Yost and Caligraph.Initially this trust was very beneficial to all the partners because of their price-fixing abilities. By the end of the nineteenth century, a typewriter came on the market that offered visible writing. The Smith Brothers were forbidden by the trust to produce their own visible writing typewriter and so they sold out their shares in Union Typewriter Company and resigned. In 1903, they bough land and built a new factory and released the new L. C. Smith & Bros. Standard Typewriter the next year. Both the No. 1 and No. 2 were offered early on, the difference between the two being the number of characters typed. These machines continued with little mechanical change for many years although it was enclosed and converted to a left-hand return. In 1923, L. C. Smith & Brow. bought the Corona Typewriter Company and the name was changed to L. C. Smith & Corona Typewriter Inc. This company went on to become one of the most successful and largest manufacturers of typewriters. This typewriter came from the Old Robinson house, an early nineteenth century house that still survives as a residence.

Description: This typewriter is a L.C. Smith & Bros. typewriter No. 2 . It is a black typewriter with the manufacturers name, the model and origin (Syracuse N.Y. U.S.A) in gold text at the bottom front with round white typewriter keys with black text. There are two black metal reels that hold a black typewriter ribbon with a horizontal cyclinder for the paper. It is a fully visible segment shifted typewriter, there is a long brass lever with a curve at the end on the right of the typewriter. On the left hand side of the typewriter there are two small brass levers. The one to the back of the typewriter moves a black bar at the front of the typewriter. At the very back of the typewriter at the top is a black metal paper support with a gold and grey pinstripe detail, in the center of the support is the company logo - 3 white horses with red halters jumping from behind a gold horseshoe. At the top of the horseshoe is "L. C. Smith & Bros", in the center of the horseshoe is a picture of the typewriter on a white background; this is attached to the horseshoe with a blue ribbon. At the bottom of the horseshoe on a red background with white text "Typewriter", "Writing in sight" with a a small ring at the bottom. When the typewriter is turned around at the bottom is gold text "This machine is protected by U.S. and Foreign Patents". Of note is the typewriter key with the symbol for the British Pound, this is near the margin release key on the righthand side.